Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg at Saskatchewan, August 31, 2025

[Blueforlife]

I'm not sure Fox, Haba and Garbutt are good examples. We didn't appear to re-sign them when they hit free agency. Is Haba still on a roster somewhere? Garbutt is on 6 game IR. Fox gets to play next to Sayles which would make a difference.

Bombers kept Adams and Woods and they've both been demoted to our PR.

Haba got picked up by BC? Can't remember, has bounced around.  Garbutt was getting reps , Fox been solid.

lawson is likely good for two torchings and vaval one.  just gotta keep pace with our offence and keep our defence off the field as much as possible. 

couple turnovers by sask and maybe a special teams TD and we can squeak one out on the road even with giving up some big yardage plays

D held up fine, no sign of the torchings as predicted

[Tecno]

Vanterpool seems healthy and could replace Wallace at LG.  I'm not 100% convinced he's better but Wallace hasn't been great.  It creates a ratio change but I'd bump Logan back to PR if not released out right. We have others that can do that.

We have to improve our OL protection for Collaros. Our best games were when Vanterpool was at LG. Obviously that was against different teams but it's become obvious that Wallace is not great so far.

Noting that when Vanterpool was at LG that let Wallace be the extra blocker which seemed to benefit our run game. Overall a better combination.

You answered your own question!  The whiffs that Wallace did vs SSK Vant never did.  Not once.  And this wasn't the first game Wallace did that...  They always said, plainly and out loud, that "the young kids" (Wallace) have trouble with pass pro.  And every scout report on Wallace always said he was slow.  (Well duh, he's 800 lbs., you try moving fast with that bulk.)

Maybe we tried extra hard for more games than we had to because we really want to have the advantage of a NAT LG (who doesn't), but it's costing us games, and could cost us Zach.  Go back to the stronger set, AND get Lofton back at RT!  That was the peak (this season), and the best we can probably hope for until '26.

[Tecno]

We added Echols and Moore recently. While Mitchell had a better game last night, one of these receivers might be a better option to stretch defences. Mitchell made some tough catches but it's still a total of 79 yards in 4 games at this point.

It dawned on me that Mitchell & Wheatie were finally good for once precisely because Moore & Echols are lighting fires under their butts.  Their starting jobs are very much on the line.  And they could even find themselves cut or PR'd.  Especially Mitchell, to whom we owe no loyalty or "long service award".

In fact, maybe that was half the reason for bringing in the 2 guys (the other half being to cover off potential/expected REC injuries)... using them as not so subtle threats.  And it worked, Mitchell finally starting to be open or find the hole, and both making great big-effort (and potentially injurious) catches.

(Ya, Wheatie had that other good game, but most of the time he's invisible.)

[Tecno]

They didn't fumble, the ball was punched out.

Potatoe potato.  Only maybe 5% of turnovers-while-carrying are guys just dropping it on their own with no one around for miles.

[Tecno]

We only came close because Regina made huge blunders in the last 5 minutes of the game. First they fumbled a return on our 45-yard line to give us an extra set of downs and good field position. Then on 3rd and 14, they took a 50 yard PI when all they had to do was knock the ball down, giving us another set of downs on their 20.

We gave them even more freebies than they gave us.  Things only went south when Brady fumbled a "let's be safe and get out of this and punt" basically in our own red zone.  That was 100% the Blunder Of The Game.  And shameful, as it only happened because he didn't want to huwt his witto head and awms fawwing fowawd, so he put his 2nd arm out to break his fall.  Something you didn't see Liver King or Nobody-Two-Touchdown do.

$225k

[J5V]

We gave them even more freebies than they gave us.  Things only went south when Brady fumbled a "let's be safe and get out of this and punt" basically in our own red zone.  That was 100% the Blunder Of The Game.  And shameful, as it only happened because he didn't want to huwt his witto head and awms fawwing fowawd, so he put his 2nd arm out to break his fall.  

I think Brady's been playing with a bum shoulder that is taking forever to heal and who knows what other bumps and bruises. Like Harris, he doesn't want to come out and sit. If I'm right it may have lead to the fumble if he's trying to protect some nagging injuries. I'm willing to cut him some slack as he has proven himself to be one tough customer that has always run hard for us. Besides, there were plenty of blunders being committed by myriad Bombers in that game that all contributed to the loss. The good news is that despite that we were still in it right until the end and never gave up and very nearly pulled it out at the end. It's better happening now than in November when it matters the most. Flush this one and on to the BB.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Bombers used to be the team the won games by taking advantage of what their opponent did wrong: Penalties, turnovers and mental mistakes.

Now we've become that opponent that teams beat for those same reasons. IIRC we have the worst turnover ratio in the league at the moment. We're taking more penalties than in the past.

Every game we question some play calling on defence or offence that blows our minds. The 2 point convert is a perfect example. Putting Streveler in on the 1st and goal from the 5 would be another.

Yes, all of that can be corrected. However, none of that has been corrected and that was game 11.

Our last loss to the Stamps and the game against the Riders may have pushed us down to a 3rd place finish. Two games lost by a total of 5 points and we let both of those games slip away due to those kinds of errors.

You're describing football, no game is ever perfect, both the winning and losing teams make loads of mistakes and weird things happen every single game. If it wasn't so we could bet on the sure winner every time and give up working for a living, but far more likely you go broke betting on football before you ever figure it out.

[Tecno]

You're describing football, no game is ever perfect, both the winning and losing teams make loads of mistakes and weird things happen every single game.

Ya, but the others are correct in saying we used to be the team that took the least penalties (for years) and we used to be the team that, averaged out over a season, made the fewest mistakes.

Now we're the ones with dumb penalties and dumb mistakes and it's costing us winnable close games.

I think MOS needs to address this more with the players.  Other teams have massively increased their focus and decreased their penalties.  Like SSK.  The personnel hasn't changed much, it's the attitude and leadership and coaching.

[Tecno]

I think Brady's been playing with a bum shoulder that is taking forever to heal and who knows what other bumps and bruises.

True.  And that could very well be the problem in this instance.  It was his right arm he was putting down, is that the bum one or the good one?

However, if he feels he has to do that, and it costs us fumbles for 7, then should Brady be playing?  He cost us much more in that game than he gave us (yes, he got a TD, but not much else except a nice dump pass with YAC).  Couldn't Peterson get us -2 yards in a quarter also?  The fumble wasn't just the 7, it was the lead and all the momentum -- and morale.

[Blue In BC]

You answered your own question!  The whiffs that Wallace did vs SSK Vant never did.  Not once.  And this wasn't the first game Wallace did that...  They always said, plainly and out loud, that "the young kids" (Wallace) have trouble with pass pro.  And every scout report on Wallace always said he was slow.  (Well duh, he's 800 lbs., you try moving fast with that bulk.)

Maybe we tried extra hard for more games than we had to because we really want to have the advantage of a NAT LG (who doesn't), but it's costing us games, and could cost us Zach.  Go back to the stronger set, AND get Lofton back at RT!  That was the peak (this season), and the best we can probably hope for until '26.

Yes and no. Vanterpool didn't play against the Riders yet so it's not a direct comparison. It did seem that the Bombers started him when the ratio allowed.

If wouldn't be surprised if he starts this week and wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't. It might come down to what we do on the DL ratio wise due to injury.

The obvious initial choice would be to take Logan off. Even that has it's pros and cons as a decision.

[markf]

I think Brady's been playing with a bum shoulder that is taking forever to heal and who knows what other bumps and bruises. Like Harris, he doesn't want to come out and sit. If I'm right it may have lead to the fumble if he's trying to protect some nagging injuries. I'm willing to cut him some slack as he has proven himself to be one tough customer that has always run hard for us. Besides, there were plenty of blunders being committed by myriad Bombers in that game that all contributed to the loss. The good news is that despite that we were still in it right until the end and never gave up and very nearly pulled it out at the end. It's better happening now than in November when it matters the most. Flush this one and on to the BB.

Which would explain why they are not running the ball, but we do have capable backup.

If Brady is hurt or reduced, use the backup. But we've seen that before. Riding a hurt player into the ground.

I have this theory that OShea played hurt, and injured a lot, succeeded doing that, which colours his coaching decisions

and yes, I know everyone plays with some kind of injury. Sometimes I think The Bombers push it too far.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

True.  And that could very well be the problem in this instance.  It was his right arm he was putting down, is that the bum one or the good one?

However, if he feels he has to do that, and it costs us fumbles for 7, then should Brady be playing?  He cost us much more in that game than he gave us (yes, he got a TD, but not much else except a nice dump pass with YAC).  Couldn't Peterson get us -2 yards in a quarter also?  The fumble wasn't just the 7, it was the lead and all the momentum -- and morale.

I think the game against Mtl. showed Brady is over his shoulder issues, he was especially rambunctious in that game smashing through tacklers at will.  Chalk up his poor LDC showing to bad planning and execution, he spent most of his time blocking for Zach.

[theaardvark]

Harris - 217 yds, 1 td

DBs did OK...

[Blue In BC]

Harris - 217 yds, 1 td

DBs did OK...

Especially when you consider that 1 broken coverage went for 69 yards of that total.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Especially when you consider that 1 broken coverage went for 69 yards of that total.

Yah, had to be one of Harris's worst performances considering past performances, hopefully they can turn it up a notch next weekend.